MAN OF STEEL is an interesting
and action-packed reboot of
the Superman mythos. It isn’t quite
balanced as BATMAN BEGINS, but the casting and music score (by Hans Zimmer) is
on target. The only thing I didn’t like
is the overuse of CGI in the fight sequences between Superman and Zod. I
think the Zod and Superman fight in
Superman II is superior to the MAN OF STEEL fight since you can see the
characters actually fighting and not be a mess of CGI figures fighting it
out.
Russell Crowe brings a gravitas
and cool to the role of
Jor-El that Marlon Brando never could (Marlon seems stiff and too stately
compared to Crowe’s take and Crowe seems like more of a great father
figure). Michael Shannon brings a more
grounded approach to General Zod, the military man who believes what he is
doing is right for the future of the Krypton race, and I like it more than the
over-the-top performance of Terrance Stamp’s memorable take as Zod. Michael
does as much as he can with the
underdeveloped role of Zod as the rest of his military followers have zero
development (including the really cool badass Faora). The characters in this
movie that are the
most developed are Clark/ Superman, Lois Lane (who is very independent and I
love how she quickly discovers who Superman is), Jor-El, Martha Kent, Jonathan
Kent (which is amazing given how little screen time that Kevin Costner has),
and Perry White (someone who doesn’t really need development other than play
the role of the editor-in-chief at The Daily Planet). That brings me to
how Henry Cavill nails the
conflict inside Clark Kent/
Superman and being the loner/ outsider who is trying to discover his role on
his adopted world. I know the
relationship between Clark and Lois Lane comes out of the blue too quickly (and
I wonder how much of their story ended up on the cutting room floor since Zack
Snyder has mentioned he had a three hour version of this movie before he edited
it down to its current length). I think Amy
Adams currently is my second favorite actress to play Lois
Lane (behind Erica Durance on the Smallville TV
series) and I will be watching to see where she takes it in the sequel.
The opening scenes on Krypton
are amazing before the movie
launching into a disjointed journey for Clark Kent
aka Kal-El aka Superman before General Zod shows up (and the plot kick starts
again). I do think MAN OF STEEL does
portray the doubts of Clark Kent well as he struggles with his role of being a
hero and doing what is right, but it isn’t as cool as say Bruce Wayne’s path to
become Batman in BATMAN BEGINS. Still I
like the path of Clark being the outcast who embraces
his path by the end of the movie and joining the world again with his alter ego
of Superman. This origin story is more
about Clark Kent
becoming Superman and less about how Clark Kent
(since he isn’t even a reporter in this movie). I am excited to
see where the sequel will go
and I hope they rely less on CGI for the fight scenes and backgrounds next
time.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
BLU-RAY DISC 1-
STRONG CHARACTERS, LEGENDARY
ROLES (25 minutes)- promotional
making-of featurette on the characters, story, and the production of the movie
ALL-OUT ACTION (26 min)-
this featurette first focuses on the training that Henry Cavill, Michael
Shannon, and others went through to get into top physical shape before moving
onto the action sequences being a combo of practical and CGI effects. Also
Michael Shannon wore a motion capture
suit for many of his scenes (his armor was CGI) and the fight scenes were lots
of physical to CGI action transitions.
KRYPTON DECODED (6 minutes)-
actor Dylan Sprayberry (Clark
Kent age 13)
interviews VFX Supervisor John “DJ” Desjardin about the Krypton technology and
the visual effects.
SUPERMAN 75th Anniversary animated short is a two
minute tour through the 75 year history of Superman in comics, film, and TV.
NEW
ZEALAND:
HOME OF MIDDLE EARTH has no place on the disc except for being a promo for THE
HOBBIT films.
BLU-RAY DISC 2-
JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY: CREATING
MAN OF STEEL is a Maximum
Movie mode version of the film as director Zack Snyder, cast and crew talk
about making the film with various behind-the-scenes footage and artwork which
interrupts the movie and even plays behind-the-scenes footage and interviews
alongside the movie in this two hour and 54 minute enhanced making-of. Cast
and crew share some interesting stories
about the movie and their characters in addition to Henry Cavill and Russell
Crowe telling the story of how they first met years before making MAN OF STEEL
(and how Russell’s words stuck with Henry).
PLANET KRYPTON is an exploration
of Krypton and its lost
society via the format of a news documentary program that aired on TV in
Superman’s world after the events in MAN OF STEEL.
X-RAY VISION (Target exclusive
behind-the-scenes featurettes
which run about 30 minutes total):
THE DESTRUCTION OF KRYPTON-
a look at the making of the
opening scenes shows the destruction of Krypton
CLARK DISCOVERS THE SCOUT SHIP-
a behind-the-scenes look at
the scene when Clark finds the ancient Krypton scout
ship
BATTLE ON THE STREETS OF SMALLVILLE-
a behind-the-scenes
look at all the practical effects work that went into that action sequence
THE MILITARY MIGHT OF MAN OF
STEEL- a look at how the military
contributed to the authenticity of the military in the movie
ATTACK ON METROPOLIS- a behind-the-scenes
look at the combo
of practical filming and CGI work that went into the making of the climatic
action scenes
Also the Target exclusive version
of the Blu-ray/ DVD combo
come sin a book format which features a 64 page book which has a selection of
imagery from the MAN OF STEEL: INSIDE THE LEGENDARY WORLD OF SUPERMAN by Dan
Wallace
Rounding out the combo pack
is a code for Digital HD
Ultraviolet copy of MAN OF STEEL and the movie in standard definition on DVD.
FINAL ANALYSIS: MAN
OF STEEL is a different take on the superman origin which I enjoyed and the
Blu-ray set has various behind-the-scenes extras that give a good look at the
making of MAN OF STEEL
This blu-ray review is (c)11-15-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted
without permission. Send all comments to
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